Intermittent Disappearance of USB and System Output Zones on Server (ref#6CVKVB)

Support
1

What best describes your playback issue?

· Music stops playing unexpectedly

What type of Zone is affected by this problem?

· *Directly-connected Zones* are affected.

Does the issue affect all file formats?

· The issue affects *multiple/all* file formats.

Does the issue happen with local library music, streaming service music, or both?

· *Both streaming and local* *library* music are affected.

Do you encounter any playback errors with the "System Output" Zone?

· The System Output has the same problem as my other Zone.

Do you have a complex network setup?

· I don't have a mesh network, but I use *managed network switches*

Your local network might need some re-arranging to support Roon.

· None of the suggestions have helped me. I'd like to submit a support request.

Do you have an approximate timestamp of when the issue last occurred?

· While playing Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now at 20:34

What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?

· TesiraFORTE via USB and internal speaker in my Mac Pro.

Describe the issue

All zones connected to my Server disappear randomly. I can play to my Sonos zones all day without issue, but the USB device and system output of my Server will just disappear at random for a few seconds and then reappear, and allow playback as if nothing happened.

Describe your network setup

It's ubiquiti, but I am a pro network engineer and have been through the setup guide and verified the same issue occurs when connected directly to my router's lan port. I can use Roon to play Sonos or other Airplay devices all day without issue, it's only the endpoints that are physically connected to the server that have this issue.

2

Hello @Nic_Pope,

Thank you for reaching Roon support, and welcome to our community!

I think the next step here is to enable some diagnostics on your account so our technical staff can get some more insight into what’s going on here.

However, before I enable this feature, I’d like to ask for your help in ensuring we gather the right information.

First, can you please reproduce the issue once more and note the time at which the error occurs. Then respond here with that time, and I’ll make sure we review the diagnostics related to that timestamp.

3

I just did it at 1:11PM so timestamp should read 13:11.
Looks like it was trying to play “I love you - Billie Eilish”

4

Hello @Nic_Pope,

Thank you for the update.

Would you kindly let me know how your Roon Server is connected to the network (e.g., Ethernet or Wi-Fi)?

Additionally, I’d like to clarify something we’re seeing in the logs. It appears that the connection is dropping, and during the reconnection attempt, your device is being discovered under different hostnames within the same connection session. Specifically, we see both “nicpopes-Pro” and “Mac-Pro” being resolved.

Could you please shed some light on this? Are you using multiple network interfaces or has the device name changed recently?

05/17 19:34:12 Trace: [raat] RAATServer discovered: RaatServer nicpopes-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200
05/17 19:34:12 Info: [raatserver] GOT SERVER 713e4e5c-4712-37dd-bd7c-4c397a61edb8::24ae63ea-6cc2-48f9-91a1-01a54865447d @ 127.0.0.1:9200 nicpopes-Pro PROTOVER=1 RAATVER=1.1.39 
05/17 19:34:12 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer nicpopes-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200] connecting (attempt 1)
05/17 19:34:12 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
05/17 19:34:12 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer nicpopes-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200] client connection failed. Retrying in 500ms
05/17 19:34:13 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer nicpopes-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200] connecting (attempt 2)
05/17 19:34:13 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
05/17 19:34:13 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer nicpopes-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200] client connection failed. Retrying in 750ms
05/17 19:34:13 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer Mac-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200] connecting (attempt 3)
05/17 19:34:13 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer Mac-Pro @ 127.0.0.1:9200] connected
5

It’s connected via ethernet. I did have the other interface plugged in at one point when I was routing around the main switch, so if the double hostnames are limited to that one time period it’s most likely related to that.

For now - I’ve disabled all other network interfaces (wifi, the other ethernet port, and thunderbolt interfaces). As far as I know it has only ever had the one name: nicpopes-pro.

7

Hello @Nic_Pope,

Have you noticed any improvements after disabling the additional network interfaces?

8

No, in fact it was pausing almost between every single song when I was playing it last night.

9

One piece of updated info on this - my PC is called nicpopes-Mac-Pro, but the name of my roon server is Mac-Pro. I’m not sure where nicpopes-Pro is coming from, or why it would be colliding with the proper named server on the loopback address.

10

Hey @Nic_Pope,

Thanks for the additional information!

Our team has enabled some additional diagnostic reporting on your Roon Server so we can investigate things further, could you please reboot your Roon Server / Mac twice and let us know when you’ve reproduced the issue again afterwards?

Thank you! :raised_hands:

11

I have done a full shutdown and boot cycle two times, and replicated the issue just now.

12

Hi @Nic_Pope,
Thanks for letting us know that you’ve completed the two reboots. We’ve let our development team know that the additional diagnostics have been activated. Once they review the new logs we will let you know their conclusions.

13

Thank you very much. I’ve stood up lots and lots of these with few issues. Of course the one in my own house is incredibly vexing. :slight_smile:

15

Hi @Nic_Pope,
I wanted to give you a quick update. Unfortunately, the additional logging we attempted to enable didn’t work as expected. We’ll need to follow up with the specific developer responsible for that part of Roon.

I’m sorry I don’t have a more positive update at the moment, but I’ll continue to keep you in the loop as we learn more.

16

Hi - thank you for the update. It’s enough to know at this point that you guys are finding this one as weird as I do. I have gone so far as to disconnect all peripherals and recreate the issue with the onboard audio on this Mac Pro, so I think it must be software related somehow.

17

Hi @Nic_Pope ,

Thanks for letting us know. We are still discussing this one with our devs but as soon as we have more info to share, we will let you know. Thanks in advance for your patience here!

18

Another tidbit of info - I left audio playing in my office which has an s1 Sonos port playing last Thursday and it’s still running uninterrupted.

But when I was playing from our other zones which are direct connected to my server over the weekend it would stop every song, and sometimes multiple times on a single song. But all of this apparently without interrupting playback on network connected zones.

19

Hi @Nic_Pope ,

Yes, this makes sense. RAATServer only keeps track of locally connected zones (USB/System Output/HDMI, etc), while the network protocol devices are not managed by RAATServer. Since the issue here is with RAATServer, it wouldn’t impact networked zones. The ticket is still awating feedback from the dev team but once this happens, we will reach out again.

20

Hi checking in if there has been feedback from your dev on this.

21

Hi @Nic_Pope ,

I’m not seeing any new updates to the ticket, but I’ve left a comment on the ticket to give it a bump.

22

Any updates?